Ironically, on December 8, 2015, Justices Clarence Thomas dissented SCOTUS’ refusal to hear a challenge to Highland Park, Illinois, “assault weapons” ban, contending that the commonly-owned rifles meet the threshold for Second Amendment protections. His dissent was joined by Justice Antonin Scalia.

The New York Timesquoted Thomas: “Roughly five million Americans own AR-style semiautomatic rifles. The overwhelming majority of citizens who own and use such rifles do so for lawful purposes, including self-defense and target shooting. Under our precedents, that is all that is needed for citizens to have a right under the Second Amendment to keep such weapons.”

Again, Scalia joined Thomas in dissent.

On May 20, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Sen. Murphy called for an “assault weapons” ban in reaction to the May 18 Sante Fe High School shooting. The attacker in that incident used a revolver and a shotgun.